These Are The People In Your Neighborhood The guy next door, the couple down the block, neighbor kids, dogs, passing cars--they're all, whether you like it or not, part of your homebased business.

Gladys Kravitz was one. Cosmo Kramer was another. And so was Mr.Bentley. As annoying as those neighbors from Bewitched,Seinfeld and The Jeffersons may have seemed, theywere entertaining, sometimes even lovable.

Charles Downey isn't so lucky. A freelance writer in BigBear City, California, Downey says his neighbor is from hell. Whenhe's in a better mood, Downey refers to him as "theneighborhood kook."

When this neighbor gets bugged by Downey's barking dogs, heroutinely leaves nasty notes on his doorstep. He also routinelyblasts the air with a loud buzzer, sounds an air-horn and aims aspotlight into Downey's office at night.

Neighbors can be nice, a nightmare or not seen-and while youdon't have control over their personalities, you can usecertain strategies to get your neighbors to send over browniesrather than restraining orders.

Geoff Williams often freelances for Entrepreneur andits sister magazines from his home office. He wouldn'trecognize his current neighbors if they were placed in aline-up

Setting Boundaries

You've just moved your office into your home. Or maybeyou're already there, but new neighbors are moving in. Quick!What do you do?

Dana May Casperson, author of Power Etiquette: What YouDon't Know Can Kill Your Career ($14.95, Amacom, www.amanet.org/books), suggestsyou don't hide your business. Be upfront about it, and, just tobe safe, have all your zoning law paperwork intact. Then you canrefer to your home office ad nauseam to your closest neighbors,says Casperson, who works in a cottage next to her house. But sheadds that even with the paperwork straightened out, "Idon't see why you have to make an announcement to yourneighbors if it's not pertinent to them." Of course, ifyou have enough visitors dropping by that it's clearthere's more to you than being a social butterfly, then it maybe worth mentioning your homebased business to your neighbors outof courtesy. Or you may just want someone to recognize yourbusiness mail and let you know when it's delivered to the wrongaddress.

It's not that your neighbors will be out to get you oncethey learn you work at home. Quite the opposite. They might be alltoo happy to pop over in the middle of the afternoon--to chat or tosee whether you can play instant babysitter. After all, you'reat home, so you're not really working, right?

In that case, "use some common sense," says Casperson."My suggestion is to tell your neighbors that from 9 to 12, orwhatever hours you're hardest at work, you don't havevisitors." And if you work hard all day, tell them.Sound a little harsh? Then stick a note on your door that reads,"Working on a project, please do not disturb," orsomething along those lines.

If neighbors aren't dropping by but are disrupting yourbusiness anyway (children shrieking in their swimming pool; thegoofball constantly revving up his car motor), always make it awin-win situation, says Casperson. Explain, don't complain."When you confront people, if you ask them to help you out,most people want to help you," she says. "Mostpeople are not in this world to cut you down."

Keep them engaged in your work. Casperson even recommendssending a plate of cookies over, perhaps with a sample of your workand a note that reads, "This is what you helped mecomplete!"

Says Casperson, "Make your neighbors your allies, ratherthan your enemies."

Nightmare Neighbors

Even top home-office experts like Marilyn Zelinsky, author ofPractical Home Office Solutions ($24.95, McGraw-Hill,www.bookstore.mcgraw-hill.com),can be perplexed about what to do with pesky neighbors. Zelinskyhas a semi-retired hard-of-hearing neighbor next door. During thesummers, he plays the television in his screened porch so loud theentire neighborhood can hear it. "I always have to have a fanor air-conditioner on in my office to mask his TV sound,"notes Zelinsky. "This becomes a problem if I'm on thephone." The air-conditioner and fan drown her out, so Zelinskyturns them off, keeps the windows shut and hopes she doesn'tmelt from the heat. "I have yet to figure out a bettersolution," she says, "so I'm waiting until he movesto Florida to retire!"

Meanwhile, Cora Jordan, an Oxford, Mississippi, attorney whoalso has her own home office and is the co-author of NeighborLaw: Fences, Trees, Boundaries & Noise ($24.95, Nolo.com,www.nolo.com) had a bit of aneighborhood scrape herself. One of her neighbors built a beaglerun . just a few feet from Jordan's home office. And soJordan did what she advises everybody to do:

• Make a list. Before you confront your neighbor, havedetails ready of the types of problems that are occurring and thetimes they are happening.
  
• Have suggested solutions with that list, so when yourneighbors say, "Well, whaddya want me to do about it?"you can tell them.
  
• See whether other neighbors are annoyed. If so, team upand confront your neighbor together.
  
• If the problem is about noise, get a copy of your localordinance. "There will be one," assures Jordan."You can get [a copy] at your public library." Shesuggests you make two copies and send one to your neighbor, with apersuasive letter, explaining that calling the authorities may benext on the agenda.
  
• Try a mediator. In your local Yellow Pages, Jordansuggests looking up "mediation" or "alternativedispute resolutions."

Though these are obviously all reasonable ideas, what ended upworking for Jordan was having her husband call next door and speakto the proverbial man of the house. This guy apparently respectedmen more than women, and he quickly moved the beagle to the otherend of the yard. Which leads to Jordan's final suggestion:Understand the culture, or mindset, of the neighbors you'redealing with.

Nice Neighbors

If you can't live in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood, youshould consider moving to Lise Schleicher's. Schleicher runsNorthbrook, Illinois-based BasketWorks (www.basketworks.nu), makingpersonal and corporate gift baskets in what she calls "aregular 1950s kind of neighborhood. Our driveway and our next doorneighbor's driveway are only separated by six feet of grass,and a few trees and bushes."

Not much room, but it hardly matters. "They're allreally supportive," Schleicher says of her neighbors."They've all used my business. They've even taken mybrochures to their offices."

In fact, Schleicher's neighbors have helped her out quite abit beyond just word-of-mouth. "They've helped me carrystuff in, because I get really large, heavy boxes sometimes,"she says. "Neighbors have offered the use of their vehicles totransport heavy stuff. Occasionally, a package will get left at thewrong address, and it's never a big deal."

In return, Schleicher tries to be an equally good neighbor. Forinstance, UPS makes a pick-up at her house every day, so neighborscan drop any packages off at Schleicher's house. They still payfor their postage, of course, but it saves them the time and moneyof having to visit the UPS office downtown.

Tom Adams, meanwhile, has "a seamless business, whereneighbors don't even necessarily know it's a business. Ifpeople are coming over, my neighbors think they're coming tovisit." Adams is fortunate: His home base of Montague,Massachusetts, may look old-fashioned on the outside (all thehouses were built in the 1800s), but many of them are wired on theinside. As the owner of a multimedia production company calledReelife, Adams just happens to live in one of the nation'sselect communities that are filled with home-office entrepreneurs.Adams has more than just neighbors--he has built-in moralsupport.

The Welcome Mat

"I think most people who work at home are so focused ontheir work, they don't have time to deal with neighbors,"remarks Peggy Mackinnon, a home-office public relations consultantin Denver. Deborah Schwartz, a home-office publicist from Bethesda,Maryland, observes, "Our immediate next-door neighbors alsowork from home, as do a few others on our street. We help eachother out, picking up kids at the bus on rainy days-things likethat."

All that may sound like an afternoon in AndyGriffith's Mayberry. But if your neighbors are more akin toThe Addams Family, there's always something you can doto improve the situation. The trick, of course, is finding whatthat something is. But home-office entrepreneurs shouldn'tallow themselves to be bullied, insists Neighbor Law authorCora Jordan. "You have to remember," she says, "thatthe law simply doesn't allow one neighbor to annoyanother."

Dream House

Wish your neighbors would just move away? Maybe you'rethe one that should find a new neighborhood. Here's a few thatmay be just right for a homebased entrepreneur.

The future is finally here. Neighborhoods are being built withhome-office entrepreneurs in mind, neighborhoods like that ofLadera Ranch and Coto de Caza in Orange County, California. Thehomes are pricey, though keep in mind we're talking aboutSouthern California: from $200,000 to $700,000 in Ladera Ranch and$400,000 to more than $1 million in Coto de Caza, according to realestate agent Beverly Dauman (www.laderaranchhomes.com,www.cotohomesforsale.com).

And you get what you pay for, says Dauman, who admits that notall home offices are created equal. Some of the cheaper homes inCoto de Caza, for instance, have home offices that are adjoining tothe bedrooms. Meanwhile, the more extravagant homes boast offices"off by themselves, away from the kitchen and familyrooms," says Dauman. "And many of them have their owndoors, leading to the exterior of the house."

But Ladera Ranch in particular, which is still being completed,is being marketed as a neighborhood ideal for the home-officeentrepreneur. And it's offering more than spacious offices, acommunity center with a swimming pool and 1950s-style frontporches--each house is being wired for the Web, and residents ofthe neighborhood will receive free Internet and intranet service.Well, free isn't quite accurate: The charge is includedin their neighborhood's association dues, which range from $138to $170 per month.